...thing. Challenged by my friend Rowena to do something brave everyday, I decided to pull into the parking lot of this forbidding-looking local quarry and take pictures. I've been wanting to do it for some time, but I was afraid that someone would arrest me for trespassing. Or yell at me—that would be worse. A guy in a big truck gave me a friendly nod as I drove in and he drove out. Other than that, I didn't see anyone. I got out ofmy car and wandered around a bit.
The place has a distinct air of disuse. Maybe it's the vegetation climbing all over the equipment, or the rust. I peered around the corner of this boxlike structure at right. What I saw next was a massive contraption that was definitely whirring and humming. So, apparently this quarry is still in operation.What's weird is how little I could discover about this place online. I found the company website, so I know that the quarry produces "Hot Mix Asphalt." But there were no news stories about this particular plant. I thought that quarries were the object of scorn by environmental groups. Don't they dig up natural resources and leave gaping holes in the landscape when they're through? Don't workers get beheaded operating the machinery and end up as ghosts haunting the plant at night, rattling chains? This place, for all its hulking bulk, barely seems to exist.
And look at the office. Really, does anyone work here?
Maybe that guy in the truck was a ghost. But he did have a head.
